Granville Wise Cup

Congratulations to Jonathan Evans on winning back to back Granville Wise Cups. Jonathan blew the field away with 41 points. Veronica Borer won the ladies division with a very credible 37 points with Rosie Shelley finishing a close 2nd on 35 points.

Pro Am Friday 29th August

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Tiger Woods has done the American Ryder Cup team a big favour by withdrawing from September's match at Gleneagles

Skipper Tom Watson has been spared a difficult decision, one that could easily have undermined the US effort to regain the trophy.

The uncertainty over whether Woods would receive a wildcard was already starting to have a corrosive effect on the captain's authority.

Watson's position on Woods had been shifting with each setback during the 14-time major champion's now aborted return from back surgery.

Form and fitness were the skipper's pre-requisites but, although Woods showed neither at any of his four comeback events, Watson still kept open the possibility of a pick.

This left the captain under pressure and the subject of Woods' fitness, or otherwise, dominated last Monday's news conference at Valhalla.

The media event was supposed to provide an opportunity to discuss the players who are in the US team, not one who might or might not be.

Watson appeared indecisive as he told reporters that he would, effectively, leave the decision up to Woods. It also suggested he was prepared to give special treatment to a special player.

"He is Tiger Woods and he brings a lot to the team," Watson said. "If he has the ability to play and he's healthy, I'd be a fool not to consider him."

The worst case scenario would have been for Woods to let the situation linger. Watson would have been left in a no-win situation heading towards the wildcard announcement.

On one hand he would have been weighing up whether to risk picking a player with serious fitness issues, while on the other he would question how he could leave out the greatest golfer of the modern era.

Woods has now ensured this dilemma has been removed and in good time. Watson can spend the upcoming PGA Tour play-offs assessing his three potential wildcards without Woods clouding the issue.

"It was a big decision for him to place a call to Tom and take himself out of consideration," Woods agent, Mark Steinberg, was quoted by ESPN.com.

"Often times people have questioned Tiger's commitment to the Ryder Cup, to team events. Nobody should question his integrity when it comes to playing for his country. I think this says a lot about his feelings toward the event and team competition."

Woods can concentrate on the pressing need to make a full recovery. He came back too soon when he returned to action in June following his back operation.

According to his website he is targeting his return for his own World Challenge tournament in December. This means foregoing lucrative exhibition events he was scheduled to play in Argentina and Asia.

Woods' bank balance will hardly miss those appearance cheques, but what the 38 year-old cannot afford is to rush another comeback and compromise his fitness.

It is a shame for the Ryder Cup that the game's biggest name will be absent but the compelling nature of these contests should ensure that he will not be missed.

US fans should not be too downhearted either. Woods has only been on one winning Ryder Cup team in seven appearances.

It is entirely sensible to take himself out of the firing line. He can sit back and watch the match from home.

And bear in mind that the last time he did that in 2008 America claimed their most recent victory.

 A Look Forward to Gleneagles - PGA Centenary Course

Host venue for the 2014 Ryder Cup Matches.

The PGA® Centenary Course, created by Jack Nicklaus, is a modern classic.

Even for a champion and acclaimed golf architect like Nicklaus, The PGA Centenary Course was a challenge. It had to be a great golf course and, set as it is in the heart of Scotland, the country that gave the world golf, Nicklaus described the course as "The finest parcel of land in the world I have ever been given to work with".

It had to be unique in its challenge, a golf course in the modern design ethos that at its fullest stretch tests the greatest players, while, in the immortal phrase of Bobby Jones, "offering problems a man may attempt according to his ability... never hopeless for the lesser player nor failing to concern and interest the expert."

The tees are graded at each hole in five stages, including a challenging 6,815 yards from the white markers down to 5,322 from the red. Fittingly, the PGA Centenary Course begins by playing southeast towards the glen, sweeping up the Ochil Hills to the summit of the pass below Ben Shee which joins it to Glendevon.

A feature of the PGA Centenary Course is the feast of views of the spectacular countryside in which Gleneagles is set. Putting on the two-tier second green, you are distracted by the lush panorama of the rich Perthshire straths. As you move westwards over the next few holes, the rugged Grampians come into view on the right, then distantly purple ahead, Ben Vorlich and the mountains above the Trossachs.